


eyes glinting gold

by sstwins



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29553114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sstwins/pseuds/sstwins
Summary: Eiji watches Ash while he sleeps.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Kudos: 36





	eyes glinting gold

Eiji couldn’t sleep. 

He’d been having more trouble with it lately, ever since he’d gotten to America. Which probably made sense, given the mess he’d gotten himself into. When he did manage to sleep, he would have nightmares-- about the dead bodies or gunshots. Sometimes he had dreams about pole vaulting, in which he broke both his legs crashing down to the floor. In real life, there were no mats.

The room he was staying in with Ash was hot. Ash had set the thermostat, and Eiji wasn’t one to correct him. There was something about the heat, though, that set everything into a stew. It made everything uncomfortable. But if Ash liked it, Ash would have it.

Eiji had taken off his shirt and pants and covered himself with a thin sheet, but he was still sweating. He was sure that it was contributing to his inability to sleep. 

He glanced over at Ash. The room was dark, but it was never really dark in New York City. There were lights flashing outside, and constantly the dull sounds of car horns. 

Ash was sprawled out on top of his sheets, wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He always slept in his clothes, which at first had baffled Eiji. It seemed unnecessarily uncomfortable. But over time he’d come to his own conclusions. Ash always avoided being naked. Eiji was sure that he was uncomfortable with his body. Maybe in the past, people had even hurt him while he slept. It was a sad thought. There were so many things in Ash’s past that Eiji would never be able to understand. It was hard to think about. All of Ash’s little tics had some underlying pain that Eiji would only ever be able to provide comfort through and never fix.

Eiji pulled himself up to sitting, allowing the sheet to fall off his chest. He normally avoided being naked around Ash as a courtesy, but he wasn’t as worried now that he knew that the other boy was asleep. He would never want to accidentally trigger anything for him. It was the same reason he tried to avoid staring at him. But now, he felt comfortable to take his time looking over the other boy’s body. Ash’s shirt was riding up on his stomach, revealing a patch of pale skin. Despite the intimidating air he commanded, the boy really was very skinny. Eiji never saw him eat very much either. He was sure that there was some trauma held in that as well. Even though he was thin, he was muscular. His body held a certain tension in it that was always right on the edge of snapping. It was part of what made him ferocious. A fearsome predator who could turn on you at any moment.

“You’re staring.” A voice piped up, and Eiji startled. He hadn’t realized the other boy was awake. 

He was sure he was blushing, but thankfully Ash wouldn’t be able to see it in the darkness. “You just look very pretty,” he said hesitantly.

Ash rolled over in bed, so Eiji could no longer see his face. “You’re not the first person to tell me that,” he said with a laugh, but it was a cruel, bitter thing. There was pain attached to those words too, then.

“Oh no, I am sorry, I did not mean…” Eiji stammered, trying to figure out what he wanted to say. “I mean you have a pretty… soul? You are pretty inside.”

Some of the tension in Ash’s body loosened at that and he turned over onto his back, glancing over at Eiji. The city lights reflected against his eyes, turning them into glassy gold. “You don’t have to say that, Eiji. It’s fine.”

“No, I mean it.” Eiji pulled the sheet up over his chest, obscuring his own frame. “I think you are very nice inside, Ash.”

“You should get some sleep.” Ash tucked his legs up, the patch of skin disappearing. “It’s late.”

“Ash…” Eiji started, before realizing he didn’t know what he had to say after all. There were some unspoken words there, words of comfort or compassion, but he didn’t have the way to say them and Ash maybe didn’t want to hear them. “When you sleep, what do you dream about?” he settled on, hoping the question wasn’t too much.

Ash sighed, putting his arms above his head. “I don’t have dreams,” he said, and Eiji couldn’t tell if that was the truth or a lie. “Now goodnight, Eiji.”

“Goodnight, Ash.” Eiji settled down on his side, facing away from Ash. The room suddenly felt colder, and he put the sheet over his shoulders. There was so much to Ash he did not understand. Even in a lifetime with the other boy, he doubted that he would ever have the right words.

When the morning came, Eiji knew he must have gotten some sleep, because he remembered seeing Ash in a field of flowers, eyes glinting like gold in the sun.


End file.
